Zed was worried there were too many unknown variables here. And now his gut was screaming at him that there was some thing wrong. His security forces were tailing a fair number of the passengers from the ship. Includeing the man that gave him the gut reaction. C4 would be paid and the droid would get some answers.

THere was something sinister amiss and he well find out what.

High above the planet, the New Alliance Fourth Fleet hung in space. Five new ships had been added to their manifest, two Imperator-class Star Destroyers, an Armadia-class Thrust ship, and two Assasin-class Corvettes. The new ships had lined up with the rest of the fleet. The 4th was also taking on new fighters and transports, the hangers of the various ships were taking on all sorts of different designs.

In his ready room aboard the ISD Shadow, Blackkon was going over recruit info that had been flagged for him by his aides. The Admiral would have prefered to go over each and every personel file, but those now numbered in the hundreds of thousands and were growing every day. Additionally, Blackkon had pretty much been moving from one battlezone to another since he'd joined the New Alliance, only having short stints for well-used training in between them.

Incomming personnel was quite astounding actually. Evidently the Admiral and 4th Fleet had made quite a name for themselves in the short time they'd been on active duty, and a large portion of TNA navy recruits requested placement with the Fourth. The Battle of Kessel had made the largest impact with the people back home, and the rescue of the Enforcer and her crew made Blackkon a favorite among recruits parents, as well as enlisted men.

New personnel weren't the only ones taken with the Fleet's success. The crewmen that had been around when these events happened and were now the old hands, felt it as well. The pilots as usual took things a measure farther than the rest, calling themselves "Blackkon's Blades" and painting a homemade insignia on thier Blastboats, that of an elegant black sword edged in red and surrounded with the words "Blackkon's Blades." Officially the Admiral dissaproved of practice, but even his stonelike features couldn't hide a slight smile as he saw the pride his men had for themselves and thier commanders. Moral was high, in times of peace and in combat.

Of course, this wasn't always a positive thing. The new men coming aboard saw the Fleet and it's commander as an invincible legend, and thought themselves safe aboard his ships. Blackkon found this silly, he was mortal as were all his ships and men. So he immediately started programs to drum that out of the new recruits, and remind the older crewmen of that same fact. Those seemed to be taking hold.

Another sign of the loyalty the crew had was shown in thier shore leave. More than once had a bar brawl started when a citizen commented about Blackkon or any other commander of the 4th in a negative manner. On the postive side of things, this also showed the brotherhood between the men, and no crewmen was alone when help was needed. In addition, the men who'd seen the horrors of combat were quick to teach the newcomers what they would need to know.

Overall, things were good among Fourth Fleet despite the war. The Admiral was happy with the performance records and training missions statistics, and that was good because they were about to head off on thier next mission. These orders had come directly from Grand Admiral Logan before his departure to Dantooine.

Rising from his desk, the Admiral shifted a little uncomfortably before leaving the room. The tailor had gotten the size slightly off on his new uniform, and it was a bit tight here and there. It was being fixed, but until then he had to make due. Leaving his ready room, he marched to the bridge. He had timed it perfectly, all ships had just finished preparations for the jump. Taking his place in the command chair, Admiral Blackkon ordered them underway. Moments later, they lept to the swirling colors of hyperspace.

(The 72 hour rule is far past.)

C4's droids took the package from the man. The droid had questions to ask but they could wait a few minutes. Before the Guard could respond one of the Droid storm troopers shot the man in the back with a stun bolt. Sending him too the ground.

C4 jumped down to The ground using his repulsors to land noiselessly. The two droids strip searched the man. Finding several interesting things. One a data pad with codes and times in addition to some news information.

There was some sort of contraption he had yet to identify. The device that he had palmed with the blinking light he set to the side. It was obviously some thing important but he did not know what yet. A speeder landed and the droid Zed nine came to meet him with several guards.

"Your man." The dark droid speaks.

Zed handed the droid a credit disk. "And your pay ment." The Police droid anaylzed the whole of what the droid had found including all the information the man had. What he saw did not please him at all.

"Send out a all point bullitine to all Civil forces we need people at these locations on the double." He marked them on a holo map.

"Track down any signals recorded on these frequencys. Follow them to the source and arrest any one in the immediate vicinity of those areas. Keep them sepparated as you find them. We do not know entirely what we are up againest but it is enough." He turned to the bounty hunter.

"Help us now and I well pay you 1000 creds for each head you bring in. Alive preferably." Zed told C4.

The droid gave a nod to the law droid. He had a area to cover and more prey to hunt. " I need the use of the prisoner. To find out more. " The droid said no more but zed reluctantly agreed. Time was short and the enemy was here.


-in the hold of the shadow hunter-

C4 had scaned the man for any sort of cyber implants. abnormal readings or any thing of the sort. He was now clean and in a restaint table. A medical droid was attending him. This droid set up various truth obtaining devices. One a serum that he was now pumped with. He would answer any question that he knew now.

"Why are you here?" The droid asked him.

OOC: In case you hadn't noticed ( :rolleyes ), hostilities towards TNA were dropped when TRE miraculously turned traitor and joined up with you and the NR to be the "good guys" against TNO. As the galactic events of late have completely changed many aspects in regards to TNOs relationships and goals, I find it rediculous that this thread be continued.

So... we're out.

Just checking the TNO board had it listed as a live thread. But it is a well done story so far. If you would like to finish it as a strait story I would like to.

OOC: Continuing on since Ciscero was not at the battle of Dantooine.



IC:


<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> "Welcome to the fold," the woman warmly smiled as the figure stood a bit at her entrance. He watched approvingly as her eyes scanned her monitoring board and found nothing amiss.

"Your uniform and credit voucher should be on their way to the lockbox."

"Thank you, I appreciate that."

"Before I let you go, please tell me one thing.."

"Yes?" the man asked sitting back down.

The woman smiled at his display of attention and suddenly felt nervous.

"What are you doing for dinner?"


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Sometimes the most unlikely of people becomes an asset.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


*

The skinny gambler ambled out of the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Bassile's Design<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and headed for the gambling district.


*


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Bassile's Design<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> filed a petition for extended hold which was granted.

Solenium leaks were not fun.


*

The hairy creature rounded a corner and disappered in the crowd as nightfall was coming to Almania.

*

The man in the khaki pants and white cotton-like shirt buttoned down the middle left the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Starry Wisdom<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> under the watchful eye of Zed 9.

The man entered the business district and took a room in Almania's best hotel, "The Republic". He reserved the room for 3 weeks and then soon exited the hotel for an expensive clothing store and restaurant.

The night air began to chill.


*

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> The man's breath drifted into the air as he walked to his destination with the woman, arm in arm.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> TNA has done quite a bit to the place<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, he thought to himself, remembering the pictures of rank desolation that is usually associated with the planet.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Typical holdover for the Starry Wisdom would be 4 days, if nothing new were found. The case is pretty cut and dry so perhaps 3 days may be in order till the liner's owner can secure it's release.

Plenty of time.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

In one of the moons, he saw the large shadow cast by the mighty flagship of The New Alliance, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Archammer<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> (or something like that).

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> When you've seen one ESD, you've seen them all. But this does make things interesting.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

The couple merged with the masses as they travelled to their destination.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->